This invention is directed to a can crusher having two movable jaws reciprocally movably mounted in a housing such that the jaws can move toward one another to crush a can. In response to an applied force the first jaw moves with a mechanical advantage compared to the other which allows the first jaw to initiate crushing the can.
Presently because of the need to conserve resources the recycling of cans, most notably aluminum cans, has been undertaken with the cooperation of a large segment of the population. Several decades ago recycling was not the issue it is today; however, in order to reduce the space cans occupied in home trash cans and the like several types of can crushers were developed.
The known can crushers generally fit into two categories. The first of these categories utilizes an apparatus having a fixed backing plate and one movable jaw which is moved toward the backing plate via a lever and a thrust link. In this type of can crusher a can is inserted between the movable jaw and the backing plate and pressure is applied to the movable jaw by movement of the lever. Since cans are cylinders they have a considerable amount of strength in their cylindrical wall along the axis of the wall which is colinear with the axis of the cylinder. It takes a considerable amount of pressure to initially distort the can along this axis. Once the can is distorted, however, this pressure is not needed. This raises the possibility of injury using these devices because the person using the crusher must initially exert a large force on the lever and after the can is initially crimped this large force may cause the lever and the person pushing on it to suddenly go forward. Additionally, a child or a feeble person may not be able to exert enough pressure on the lever to initially crush the can.
A second type of can crusher utilizes a blade which initially shears off the top and/or bottom of the can. This blade is sharp and after shearing, sharp edges are formed on the pieces of the can that remain. These sharp pieces are capable of cutting the person handling them and thus extreme caution must be used in using this device. Further, if a person inadvertently placed a body member into the device and the device is activated the sharp edge is capable of puncturing or severing the body member.